Daniel Will-Harris This movie is visually stunning--the spectacular sets (the floating wedding scene), the sumptuous costumes.But it's much deeper than the glorious surface would suggest--it's not just a costume drama--the story is about someone and something--one man's life from selfishness to selflessness.Downey's acting is superb, he's always been a wonderful actor, and here he's both subtle and broad and always believable. Meg Ryan is so different here from her normal cute roles that you might not even recognize her.The script, direction, acting, editing, and beautiful score combine to make this a rich, emotionally moving experience.

tedg You take a risk in filming any book, but here we have one of these fat simple books that flow easily and have simple substance. Its targeted at the sorts of things that appeal to romance readers: redemption, a hostile world, love, discovered honor. The book is a cartoon with faux travails from a lurid homeworld. If you were going to make a film of this without changing the book very much, and targeting the same audience as the book. You couldn't turn the story into something interesting, true or valuable. You couldn't make these characters matter. Lucky, because the director is incapable of doing so.What you could do is be lush. You'd create a home world that is lurid, with the earth sexually excited. You'd have full reds in a tumescent space (and rainy greys in contrast). You'd have novel ornamentation, excessive costumes. That's what we have here. As with other commentors, I say that the only thing interesting here are those sets. In this case, two women anchor and become part of the sets: one dark redheaded and one light. Oddly, neither are photographed as beautifully as they have been elsewhere.What's interesting is how our set designer has folded the sets. You can't have an intelligent introspected story because the book is so pedestrian . But you can have folded sets. We have a wall of receding arches that is really a tapestry through which the king enters. We have a model of London, in which the king and our hero meet. And the best of all, we have an Orrery with the king at its center. An Orrery, if you don't know it is a mechanical model of the solar system. Its a marvelous thing, and has an iconic meaning in films where it is used. I collect these images because they are so few and deep. This is the loveliest I know.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

babywatson Robert Downey Jr. in a 17th century wig and dress was enough to make me shudder, but I couldn't believe a great actor like Sam Neill actually took a part in this movie. The whole thing was unbelievable. I especially like Merivel's "cure" for the crazies. They dance...and hey presto! everyone's happy and they're all better! I guess I just didn't like the character Merivel too much. Therefore, watching a whole movie about his supposed transition from a whoring buffoon into a great physician was grueling. Also, I'm not entirely sure, but I didn't think the plague as well as the famous fire of London took place simultaneously.

mary_morris-1 I thought this movie was a wonderful story. Meg Ryan plays a woman who lives in a mental institution and her acting is great, very convincing. Robert Downey Jr. is a doctor to a king, who marries Meg to save her, but begins to fall in love with her. The fact that their love story differs from most makes this movie even better. I laughed, I cried, I rejoiced along with the characters in the movie. But I will warn you of the nudity, Robert Downey Jr. and minor female characters are nude in certain parts of the movie. The costumes were fantastic and beautiful, as were the sets. I recommend this movie to all who are of age, because of the nudity younger people shouldn't see it unless they are quite mature.